For your viewing pleasure - After a lot of work during the fall and winter, I launched my refurbished Hobie 14 last week. I shot new gel-coat on the hulls, poly-glowed the blue decks (looks great and preserves the anti-skid pattern), put on a new trampoline that I traded a bunch of stuff for, barely used comptip mast that I bought for a steal, H20 tiller connectors, 6:1 mainsheet that I salvaged from an old boat, a like new 25-year old Fantasia sail (one of my favorite old patterns, I couldn't resist) that I found online for a cheap price, new standing and running rigging. If I could only get a deal on some EPOs . She sailed great. I'm looking forward to racing her on a Portsmouth basis in some club events here in Knoxville this summer. Scroll on down to see both pictures.

Thanks, fellas. I've always had a fondness for the 14. Not only do I like the freedom of being able to sail any time that I want, regardless of whether I can find a crew or not, but I also enjoy the nostalgia of sailing the first Hobie Cat. Not to mention that the 14 in a stiff breeze is a lot of fun. My next "go-fast" trick will be to drop about 20 lbs . . .

Thanks, I'm glad you like the boat. Actually, I didn't touch the black anodized aluminum (or as my 7th grade science teacher used to call it "alunium" - no kidding - I grew up in Kentucky). What you see on the side rails is a blue rail carpet kit which is peeling off and will soon be replaced by black neoprene. The rear cross bar is faded quite a bit, however, what you see there is a new tiller crossbar just in front of it. A friend of mine had an extra one for a 16 and donated it to my project. I trimmed it down to size with a hack saw and installed the H20 tiller connectors on it. I really like those. I took my old tiller crossbar and trimmed it down and made a new(er) pair of straight tiller arms out of it. The old ones looked pretty ratty. Note that my starboard rudder isn't locked up. The upper rudder casting is worn quite a bit on that side and it won't lock. A new(er) one of those is on my wish list.

Well it looks great! I like to two tone color with blue decks... I picked up a really nice H14 last year and eventually I'd like to 'refresh' it. I did a wet sand and polish on a spot on the back of the hull and the initial test turned out great. I'm confident that it will shine up nicely. Now all I need is to find the time! Your project is inspiring me!

Thanks. The two-tone hulls used to be a common factory option back in the day. There were several variations utilizing different combinations of white, different shades of blue, yellow, lime green, tangerine, and even a goldish beige color. A yellow deck on a white hull was always my favorite. Still is. When I bought my new 16 in 2011, I had my dealer ask the folks at Hobie Cat if I could pay a few extra bucks and have them build a special order boat for me with yellow decks on white hulls. My idea was to put a blue mesh trampoline on it and also order a custom Hobie-built re-creation of the vintage yellow/white/blue (would have been a slightly different shade of blue) sail pattern from the early 70's, but the factory wouldn't make special order hulls, so the plan went down in flames. That boat would have been very distinctive and instantly recognizable and would have looked awesome. Oh well . . .